Unexpected (7)
It was wrong from the start to be curious about my kidnapper while being kidnapped. Right. Let’s not try to know more about Sa Hae-geon. Just go with the flow and live moderately, as I’ve been doing until now. After organizing my thoughts like this, I felt much better than before.
Sa Hae-geon, who had raised his head at some point, looked at me carefully and asked:
“Do you need anything?”
I shook my head in response. For a moment, Sa Hae-geon’s face seemed to show a dejected look, but it quickly returned to being expressionless, making me wonder if I had imagined it.
After that, Sa Hae-geon would eagerly ask if I needed anything whenever I moved slightly or looked at him. His attitude was very burdensome, so I had to issue a sigh-filled order to leave:
“Hae-geon, I want to rest quietly alone now.”
Sa Hae-geon, who had been staring at me with pitiful eyes like a rain-soaked puppy, finally stood up. He took the dining chair he had brought and went to the living room, saying goodbye with a voice dripping with lingering attachment:
“Rest well… Call me anytime if you need me or my help.”
“Okay. You too, Hae-geon.”
His voice sounded quite pitiful, but if I stayed with Sa Hae-geon any longer, I felt I wouldn’t be able to rest properly. Above all, it hadn’t been long since I had shared Sa Hae-geon’s emotions, so I needed time alone to process my emotions sufficiently without him noticing.
The door closed firmly. I was finally alone. I sighed, pulling the blanket over my head. Honestly, I was at a point where I felt I couldn’t do Guiding anymore, if only out of fear of sharing Sa Hae-geon’s emotions. Do I have to keep Guiding like this from now on? I felt dizzy at the thought. Of course, sharing emotions itself is fine due to the high matching rate.
The problem was that I felt Sa Hae-geon’s emotions during Guiding without any warning. Is there no choice but to endure silently because it happens due to the high matching rate? It was troublesome if Sa Hae-geon’s emotions kept coming over like this.
But at the same time, I thought I might endure it for a while, since we wouldn’t see each other anyway once I left this place. Right. It seemed better to let it slide rather than unnecessarily arousing Sa Hae-geon’s suspicion.
‘I’ll endure it.’
For the sake of continuing this relatively peaceful and comfortable confinement life, at least.
The next afternoon, Sa Hae-geon and I sat on the sofa, occasionally chatting while eating fruit. When I appeared with my condition recovered overnight after not feeling well yesterday, Sa Hae-geon looked a bit surprised. But that was only for a moment; soon he smiled brightly, very pleased with my recovery.
If it were another Esper, I would have thought they were so happy because they could receive Guiding again, but this was Sa Hae-geon. Now that I clearly knew the reason for Sa Hae-geon’s reactions, I was a bit concerned about what he might say or do.
Well, contrary to my worries, Sa Hae-geon’s happily smiling words were just about eating the shrimp porridge he had made.
Anyway, the fruit we ate while leisurely spending time after the meal was delicious. Watching Sa Hae-geon diligently peeling tangerines and placing them on my plate, I suddenly became curious about the conditions under which his emotions transferred to me. Even though I had decided just yesterday to endure and let it slide, I was still concerned.
After all, I didn’t feel his emotions every time I did Guiding. I reached out to Sa Hae-geon, who was busily peeling tangerines, oblivious. Sa Hae-geon, who was fiddling with a tangerine much smaller than his hand, glanced at me.
“What is it? Not enough tangerines?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“Let’s do Guiding.”
“…Guiding?”
His tone was quite grumpy, as if not very pleased. However, when I didn’t withdraw my hand despite his reaction, Sa Hae-geon’s brow furrowed slightly. He put down the tangerine he was holding on the plate and looked at me.
“You overdid it yesterday, didn’t you?”
His voice, tinged with sadness, left me speechless, but I tried to soothe him.
“Yes. But I’ve recovered, haven’t I? I didn’t overdo it that much yesterday, so why are you scared?”
“But yesterday, you…”
Suddenly, Sa Hae-geon’s lips clamped shut. As if ruminating on yesterday’s events, Sa Hae-geon clenched his fist so tightly that the veins on the back of his hand stood out, and lowered his gaze. Sa Hae-geon was lost in thought about something and wouldn’t open his mouth.
Well, since I had shown a different side during yesterday’s Guiding that he had been persuaded to receive, it was understandable that he was reluctant to agree. Telling the truth might be comfortable right now, but I didn’t want to create future troubles.
In fact, by now, I was even regretting mentioning it when I first felt his emotions. Though it was too late for regrets, there was nothing I could do about it now.
While I was momentarily lost in thought, Sa Hae-geon’s tightly closed lips moved.
“If you want, we’ll do it. But if it strains your body again this time, I won’t receive Guiding anymore in the future.”
“What?”
“Don’t like it? Then let’s not do it. We don’t have to.”
I couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief, but there was no choice.
“Okay. Let’s do that.”
Only then did Sa Hae-geon nod with a satisfied face and grab my hand. I held Sa Hae-geon’s cold hand and started Guiding. As my wavelength flowed in, Sa Hae-geon’s expression gradually relaxed.
Seeing his face, which had been armored with a blunt and nonchalant light, now showing signs of pleasure, I couldn’t help but smile fondly. However, I couldn’t completely relax my guard, as his emotions might flow over to me like yesterday if I wasn’t careful.
As the Guiding continued, Sa Hae-geon’s emotions didn’t flow into me. It was difficult to guess the criteria. What was different? What was different from yesterday that allowed me to do Guiding today without any particular restrictions?
I frowned with belated regret for being needlessly curious about such conditions. Then I felt a gaze from somewhere. Slowly raising my head to check, I saw Sa Hae-geon watching me with suspicious eyes. The moment I met his eyes, I felt my heart sink and unconsciously stopped Guiding.
“…What’s wrong?”
Instead of answering my deliberately casual question, Sa Hae-geon stared at me as if measuring something. Certain that I was about to be interrogated if this continued, I stood up as naturally as possible. Then Sa Hae-geon grabbed my wrist and asked:
“Where are you going?”
“Ah, I was going to the bathroom.”
The word ‘bathroom’ itself felt so much like an excuse that even after saying it, I kept checking Sa Hae-geon’s reaction. Surprisingly, he nodded and let go of my wrist without resistance. It was fortunate that Sa Hae-geon was uncharacteristically naive in this aspect.
As I was about to pass by him towards the bathroom, sighing in relief, I felt something catch on my ankle and my body tilted forward. It seemed I had caught on the chain stretched out in the living room.
“Ah…!”
With a pathetic scream, thinking I was about to fall face-first in front of Sa Hae-geon, I closed my eyes tightly and flailed my arms. At that moment, a cold hand stretched out from behind, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me sharply towards him.
I bumped my forehead against something solid and sat down.
“Are you okay?”
“Uh, yeah…”
I was dumbfounded by the sudden situation. Perhaps due to the shock, I couldn’t immediately comprehend what had happened. Only after alternately looking at the chain stretched out on the floor, the shackle on my ankle, and Sa Hae-geon sitting on the sofa hugging me, could I grasp the whole situation.
“…Ah, sorry.”
“Why are you sorry? I should be the one apologizing to you. I should have organized the chain better so you wouldn’t trip. I’m sorry.”
“Ah, no. I was careless, that’s all. Anyway, thanks. I need to get up now. You must have been surprised too, and I need to go to the bathroom.”
I was completely flustered from the moment I realized I was in Sa Hae-geon’s arms. As I tried to get up hurriedly, Sa Hae-geon held me back once more.
“Wait a moment.”
“Uh, what? Why?”
As I was about to turn my head while asking that, I felt a cool temperature touch the exposed nape of my neck.
